Elon Musk calls for retired air traffic controllers to come back to work

Elon Musk has been very open about his plans to cut fraud and waste from the government.

However, at times, he appears to be stepping on other department heads' toes, and I am just wondering how long people are going to eat this without pushing back.

The Letter

This all started when Musk issued a letter to all federal workers demanding they respond to his email or face a possible resignation.

Musk posted about it on X, writing, "Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump's instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."

When the letter was sent, it was questioned just how legal it was, not to mention that Musk was apparently ready to fire anyone and everyone who did not answer the letter.

At the time, I had stated that I did not think this was a very smart approach. Trump has department heads in place, so why not allow them to audit their respective departments, evaluate their talent, and the positions available, and then let them cut as they see fit?

The Resistance

To my point, after Musk sent out the letter, several top staffers pushed back, with Kash Patel leading the way.

Patel’s letter to his staff more or less stated what I stated above. He told them to ignore the letter, and that his team would be responsible for deciding who stayed and who was cut.

Tulsi Gabbard also pushed back, citing national security reasons, but you could tell by the tone of her letter that she did not appreciate Musk coming into her department to make personnel moves, and I agree with her.

Musk then attended Trump’s first cabinet meeting to explain his letter, walking back the aggressive nature of it just a bit. But I still feel that Trump needs to get Musk to dial it down a bit, or this will create problems among Trump’s department heads and Musk. I can flat out tell you that if I was running a department, and Musk started making personnel decisions, especially without my consult, I would turn in my resignation and walk away from the administration.

Musk and Air Traffic Controllers

Musk is now apparently making personnel decisions for the Department of Transportation, stepping on the toes of Secretary Duffy (who, by the way, does not have a lick of experience in the transportation industry).

While I don’t agree with Trump’s pick, it should be Duffy making a personnel decision, but yet again, it was Musk who posted about bringing back retired air traffic controllers.

He posted on X, “There is a shortage of top notch air traffic controllers. If you have retired, but are open to returning to work, please consider doing so.”

People may think I am just being picky here, but that is far from the case. There is a hierarchy, and when someone from outside the department comes in to make personnel decisions, it undermines the authority of the department head, which is why it is so important for Musk to respect the authority of the respective directors and secretaries. Musk is an adviser, so he should not be making any final calls, especially in regard to personnel in various departments.